Page 65 of Love It or List It
“Wow.”Joe paused, then resumed his search for the corkscrew.“Sus, huh?Maybe you’re spending too much time with my kids.”
“I don’t know,” Austin said, faux speculative.“You ever think you might be the problem?Maybe you just attract people who like to give you a hard time.”
You gave me a hard time, all right, Joe thought.If he hadn’t already uncorked the white, he might’ve thought twice about it.Maybe he couldn’t be trusted with any alcohol right now.Instead he said, “Oh sure, blame the victim.”
They plated up and brought their food into the dining room to eat.
“We should get a kitchen table,” Austin commented.“It feels weirdly fancy to eat out here.”
“Even on this battle-scarred old thing?”Joe’s table had been a hand-me-down already when his mother got it.
“Less the furniture, more the surroundings.”Austin gestured at the dark hardwood floors, carefully restored wainscoting, original crown molding.God forbid they ever got any water damage in here, because Joe wasn’t paying to fix that.It would all have to come down.With the fresh coat of paint they’d put on the top half of the room, it did feel grander than the table warranted.“Besides, now that you can actuallyseethe window in the kitchen, it has better light.”
Joe looked pointedly toward the exterior door behind Austin, where it was very obviously dark and had been since before five o’clock.
Austin rolled his eyes and nudged him under the table.“Itwillhave better light, then,” he amended.“Besides, if we’re going to host Christmas dinner for… twelve?”
Joe did some quick calculations.“Kids, us, Starling, Linda, and I think Gavin’s parents are coming… and Alex’s mom might come with their stepdad.And my mom.”
“Thirteen,” Austin said.“Plus a dog and three cats.”He gestured around.“They ain’t gonna fit in here.”
“I wasn’t planning on setting Pepa a place at the table.”
Austin quirked a smile, something fond and almost impish.“Liar.”
Joe found himself flushing.It must be the wine.Tannins or something.He cleared his throat, took another sip.“I mean, you’re not wrong about the table.But….”Austin lived here too; Joe might as well get his opinion.“I was thinking—a big island?I’ve got a couple nice slabs of black walnut.”His grandparents’ neighbor had a tree fall a decade ago; Joe and his nonno had helped clear it up.His grandfather had the boards milled and gave Joe half for his help, but he’d never had time to do anything with them.“They’d make a fantastic tabletop.”
Austin made a show of checking his watch.“I mean, yeah, but you’re gonna want to get on that ASAP if you expect people to eat at it in two weeks.”
“It’s just sanding and glue,” Joe protested.“Well, and figuring out a base, I guess.”
Austin tapped his fingers on the table.“Not wood?”
Joe waggled his hand back and forth.“Not fancy turned legs, anyway.That’s where the time would come in.”
“Metal ones?”he suggested.“Like… this house is kind of a hodgepodge, right?Hundred-year-old house, fifty-year-old addition, thirty-year-old pole barn.There’s some unused metal pilings in the garage, probably from when the addition was built.And what might have been a basketball net once.I could weld some.”
Joe tried to picture it.It would either be really cool or a complete disaster.“Farmhouse industrial?”
“Sounds like something your mom would hate.”
Joe grinned.“What, you think she goes around to her clients’ houses suggesting they paintlive, laugh, loveon the bedroom walls?”
Grinning, Austin reached for the wine, lifted the bottle in offering.Joe realized his glass was almost empty and nodded for the refill.“Maybe notpainting,” he said.“Maybe she just, like, drives around with a few extra knickknacks, you know.Throw blankets.Candles.Framed embroidery.”
They finished sketching out table/island plans over dinner, but when Joe headed to the kitchen to clean up, Austin stopped him.“Actually, uh, I need your help with something first.Can you grab the dog treats?”
Joe did an about-face and grabbed the bag from the top of the fridge.“She’s not still taking any medication, is she?”
“No.She finished those a few days ago, which you know.”
Joe turned with treats in hand to see Austin holding a contraption.
Joe raised an eyebrow at the thing in Austin’s hands.“You trying to tell me something about your nighttime activities?”
Austin looked down and blushed.Apparently he hadn’t considered how the strapping and buckles might appear.“Oh my God, no.It’s for Pepa.Obviously.”
“Oh, right.Obviously,” Joe said and did not make any crass jokes.
